Companion to the English prose works of Richard Rolle : a selection / from the edition by Carl Horstman.

Hou be ensaumple of Iacob & of his two wyues men schal rule hem riȝt in þe medled lyf. Cao. xo.

Ȝif þou wole do wel, þou schalt do gostli as Iacob dude bodily. Holi writ seiþ þat Iacob, whon he began to serue his mayster Laban, he coueyted Rachel his Maistres douȝtur to his wyf for hir fayrhede, and for hire he serued. But whon he wende for to haue I-had hire to his wyf, he tok Lia first, þat oþur douhtur, in stude of Rachel, and afterward he tok Rachel, and so he hedde boþe at þe last. Be Iacob in holy writ is vndurstande an ouurgoer of synnes. Be þise two wimmen are vnderstande, as seint Gregore sayþ, two lyues in holy chirche: Actyf lyf & Contemplatyf lyf. Lia is [as] muche for to say as «trauaylous», & be-tokneþ actyf lyf; Rachel be-tokneþ «siȝt of beginnyng» þat is god, & be-tokneþ lyf contemplatyf. Lia was fruiteful, but heo was sore-eiȝede. Rachel was bareyn, but heo was fayr & loueli. Þenne riht as Iacob coueited Rachel for hire fairhede & neuurþeles he hedde hire nouȝt whon he wolde, but first he tok Lia, & after-

ward hire: riht so vche mon, turned be þe grace of compunccion soþfastli from synnes of þe world & of þe flesch to þe seruise of god & clennes in good lyuynge, haþ gret desyre & gret longynge for to haue Rachel, þat is for to haue rest & gostli swetnes in deuocion & contemplacion, for hit is so fair & so loueli; & in hope forto haue þat lyf only, he disposeþ him for to serue vre lord wiþ al his miȝtes. But ofte whon he wende for to haue had Rachel, þat is rest in deuocion, vre lord suffred him furst to be assayed wel and trauayled wiþ Lia, þat is ouþur wiþ grete temptacions of þe world or of þe deuel, or elles wiþ oþur worldly bisynes, bodili or gostly, in help of his euen-cristen. And whon he is wel trauayled wiþ hem & neiȝhand ouercome, þen vr lord ȝeueþ him Rachel, þat is grace of deuocion & rest in concience; & so hol boþe Rachel & Lia. So schalt þou do aftur ensaumple of Iacob, tak þe þi[s] two lyues actyf & contemplatyf, sen god haþ sent þe boþe, vse hem boþe, þat on & þat oþur. Be þat o lyf þat is actyf, þou schalt bringe forþ fruit of moni gode dedes in help of þin euen-cristen. And be þat oþur þou schalt be maad feir & briȝt & clene in behaldyng souereyne briȝtnes, þat is god, beginnyng of al þat is mad. And þen schalt þou be soþfastly Iacob and ouurgoere and ouercomere of alle synnes. And aftur þis be þe grace of god þi name schal be chaunged, as Iacobus name was turned in to Israel. Israel is as muche forto say as «a mon seoyng god». Þen ȝif þou be furst Iacob & discretly wol vse þise two lyues in tyme, þou schalt aftur be Israel, þat is verrey contemplatif. For ouþur in þis lyf he wole diliuere þe and make

þe freo of þi charge & þi bisynes wȝuch þou art bounde to, or elles aftur þi[s] lif fulli in þe blis of heuen whon þou comest þider.